The third year of the Home Health Value-Based Purchasing (HHVBP) Model expansion comes with changes. Some measures will be retired, and some new ones will be added.
Home health providers looking to achieve HHVBP success will need to prepare for this updated version of the model.
“You need to be thinking about how you’re doing in 2024, and then preparing for 2025 and making sure that you’re improving in the right areas,” Yancey McManus, senior director of solutions management at WellSky, said during a presentation at last month’s National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) Financial Management Conference.
Staying on top of utilization management, as well leaning on accurate data, will be key for providers looking to gain HHVBP wins.
“To prove our value and leverage insight, we really need to bank on data-informed decisions, especially as the machines are learning, and helping us understand what else is going on, because we know that our care doesn’t just happen during our visits,” Cindy Campbell, senior director of advisory services at WellSky, said during the presentation.
Campbell also pointed out areas where providers are leaving money on the table, so to speak.
She noted that purchasing analytics and not using them optimally was one way providers leave money on the table. Investing in RPM but not implementing it, and not leveraging patient engagement tools and check-in calls, were other ways providers sometimes fall short.
Ultimately, there are three key areas providers who are looking to stay on top can set their sights on mastering — OASIS-E, claims and HHCAHPS.
Indeed, providers need a strong assessment technique for OASIS-E and accurate documentation capture.
HHCAHPS is one area that McManus believes doesn’t receive enough attention, but one that could have the power to help providers differentiate their organization.
“HHCAHPS together represent 30% of your TPS score, so while individually they may not seem that important, together it’s incredibly important,” she said.
When it comes to claims, it’s important to be goal directed and aligned with the patient, Campbell noted.
“Focus on OASIS competence, we know that’s really important in the assessment technique, and look at what’s going on under the claims data to see where we are having problems with hospitalization,” she said.
Campbell also urged leaders to remember that throughout their efforts to improve, things may get worse before they get better.
“When we lead value-based purchasing differently, our staff will respond differently,” she said. “There might be some pushback. Behaviors may get a little worse, when suddenly we’re controlling utilization better, right before they ever get better, but they will.”
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